So I've been absent from the hallowed pages of this blog recently...nothing really new about that.
I've been determined to write something on the Olympics, that just finished up in my backyard several weeks ago, and with the Paralympics ending this weekend I thought it would be apt to revisit this once in a lifetime event.
I will come back to a full account of my experiences, of which there were many. It was truly an affirming feeling that I witnessed from the two week long party: countries from all over the world in our little corner, the spirit of healthy competition alive and well, being able to high five or talk to random strangers at will without appearing like a nutbar, an outpouring of national pride (and not just Canadadians).
I remember the day when Vancouver won the bid to host the olympics, I was happy for it, but skeptical that we would even be able to pull it off. I guess you could consider me indifferent to it all. Throughout the past few years though, and even into the Olympics itself there was a haze of controversy, public outcry and criticism. Protests, outspoken threats and advocates was all I heard in the news to the point where it made me sick. It was reassuring though to see that so much of that negativity swept aside completely. Maybe it was in sudden realization that they couldn't do anything about it, or the abundance of red and white out there. What was witnessed out here was a force, no not THE Force, but a force to unite, a force that affirmed an identity. Many of us take this place for granted, I sure as heck have. Always there to say something negative... It's hard for me to put such feelings into words but maybe the link below may help, it's the full version of the poem recited during the opening ceremonies by slam-poet Shane Koyczan. Those words, those cheers, that moment had me on my feet. Maybe you were too!
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